A week after Lars von Trier staged an intimate apocalypse in Melancholia, Scottish director David Mackenzie doubles the doom, with a world literally losing its senses.

Ewan McGregor plays Michael, a talented chef who finds his livelihood threatened by a global plague that robs people of first smell, then taste. Still, Michael is an optimistic sort and heâs soon whipping up dishes full of interesting texture and finding solace in the bed ofÂ the beautiful scientist (Eva Green) who lives next door.

This low-budget psychological sci-fi is shot through with provocative and poignant insights, even if the emotional outbreaks that mark each stage of the plague sometimes feel like an actorsâ workshop.

The central romance is thin gruel compared to Melancholiaâs complex feastÂ but if youâre in the mood for a two-course catastrophe then this intelligent British indie makes for a tasty appetizer.